MJ and I have found yet another new pandemic pastime: watching Jeopardy episodes. Yup, Jeopardy the trivia game show hosted by Alec Trebek is still airing and still giving out prizes (since 1964, wow!) and available on Netflix (albeit only an assortment of episodes). When I grew up watching Jeopardy I always entertained the thought of knowing enough to get on the show, but then fancier follies like getting on Survivor and Amazing Race (with really no prior qualifications necessary) outweighed the pure meritocracy that is Jeopardy: you just have to know trivial facts about the world, primarily based in US and the Western World.
Watching Jeopardy as a 33-year-old is definitely different than as a 13-year-old or even an 18-year-old: I feel like I know slightly more of the answers, but not even close to being able to compete on the show. The broad knowledge required for the show seemed impossible to digest back in the 2000's and early Internet times, but now it seems completely doable with all the resources we have available. In fact, people apparently "take time off" to study for the show, some citing one year of study, without having to hold a job. It's kind of like studying for the SAT or LSAT: it's not necessarily testing you on everything you know (that's undeniably a part of it) but how well you studied for these trivial facts and looked through the most common answers, memorized enough world capitals, seas of the world, medical terms, 18th century poets, engineering tools, Academy Award winning movies, etc. and be able to apply them quickly. It's a lot like taking a test that you can study your whole life for.
Or compete in the College Jeopardy Championships!- I was actually fascinated by that particular show because students around the country aged 18-22 competed and were pretty skilled at knocking out categories that I wouldn't have dreamed of in college. What a great thing to have studied for in college instead of squandering the time playing online poker or going to play live poker or writing papers that likely didn't get read for classes like "Diaspora in Africa?" (a real class I took in undergrad). I guess though studying various foreign languages I've adopted an admiration for long odyssey adventures that require years of training and dedication, goals that seem difficult but attainable given a strong work ethic and stamina. And getting on the show must be sweet justification for all that hard work they went through. And the College Championship winner wins $100,000? That's like a 4-year (well, nowadays, like a 2.5-year scholarship!)
As an adult I still don't know a lot of things about the world around me, but Jeopardy's a great way to connect ideas and concepts (ah, that's what a vichyssoise desert looks like! Oh the Chinese had a Hui Hai Initiative led by Chiang Kai-shek!) that either I've never known before or knew in the back of my mind but wouldn't be able to name outright just from even the artful clues Jeopardy gives about it. It's one thing to have soaked in some knowledge, but it's another to be able to produce it when the time is nigh. I now have more appreciation for those people who do well at bar trivia nights or quiz show games.....they might just be smart, but chances are they did a lot of work to arrive at all those trivial facts.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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